2003 Idaho tornado
the '''2003 Idaho tornado '''was a destructive F3 tornado which tracked through much of Idaho on July 13, 2003. It was a part of a small localized tornado outbreak which also included 3 other tornadoes. The tornado was the strongest and longest tracked in Idaho's history and is still one of the longest tracked tornadoes on record, tracking almost 200 miles. Despite this, the tornado remained over mainly rural areas and caused minimal injuries. Meteorological history On July 11, 2003...the remnants of a Tropical Depression made landfall in northwestern Oregon, most storms were limited to producing dime size hail and 40 mile per hour winds but on July 12 the SPC issued a very rare (for Idaho anyway) Day 2 Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms, the next morning was described as a humid, warm morning throughout much of Idaho, with conditions seeming favorable for thunderstorms that afternoon that could produce weak tornadoes, therefore...at 11AM local time the SPC issued a Tornado Watch for portions of Idaho and Nevada until 5PM local time, the event did not consolidate until 3PM however, meaning that the watch had to be extended to fit the proper severe weather timing, strong thunderstorms rapidly developed around 3:45PM local time, with the first tornado being reported at 4:01PM as a tiny tornado, the tornado peaked out at just over 6 yards wide and would diminish at 4:03PM, another tornado would touch down around 4:22PM and would produce F1 damage to a roof in rural Idaho County, it would lift at 4:27PM. The third and strongest tornado of the outbreak (and in Idaho's entire history) touched down at 4:29PM as a tiny 10-yard wide F0 tornado near Cottonwood, Idaho...the tornado moved southeast and at 4:32PM rapidly intensified into a 65-yard wide F1 tornado over Cottonwood, the tornado became a low-end F2 around 4:36PM at around 100 yards wide. It inflicted F2 damage to many homes in Grangeville, Idaho with roofs being completely torn off buildings and some houses being completely destroyed on the exterior. Right after the tornado moved out of Grangeville it began inflicting F3 damage to some houses. The tornado began approaching Elk City and Golden between 4:41 and 4:46PM as a low-end F3 tornado, the tornado reached it's max width of 165 yards wide at 4:44PM while moving along Idaho State Road 14 to Elk City. The tornado maintained a stable F3 intensity as it moved along the road. The tornado slammed the town of Golden at 4:48PM with a max width of 150 yards wide, reports showed many homes sustained high-end F3 damage in the town. The tornado continued moving towards Elk City but moved south just 10 miles west of the city, this is also where F4 damage was sustained by crops but no F4 rating was assigned due to no solid evidence of that intensity, the tornado, now having tracked 60 miles hit Gold Point at 4:57PM as a very fast moving tornado, the tornado weakened to a F1 as it moved through the mountains of Idaho before making a very sudden turn southward over rural Idaho as a high-end F0 away from the Montana state line. The tornado began moving towards North Fork fluctuating between F0 and F1 intensity. The tornado then began following along Idaho State Road 28 as a high-end F1 tornado at around 5:22PM, the tornado would yet again reach F3 intensity as it hit the town of Lemhi, Idaho at 5:37PM. The tornado then moved into the mountains again and diminished at 5:50PM after over a hour on the ground and a 194 mile track. The final tornado would touch down 2 hours and 7 minutes after the first and would diminish a minute later. Confirmed tornadoes